


Bending Society's Rules

by xslytherclawx



Series: Cat Café Universe [6]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: College, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Pre-Series, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 00:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11771229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: “Phichitno,” Yuuri whispered.“Phichityes,” Phichit whispered back.It was a normal Wednesday night at Wayne State.





	Bending Society's Rules

**Author's Note:**

> My friend Rose (GoodbyeBlueMonday) is from Detroit and says she thinks Yuuri and Phichit probably went to Wayne State. So I'm going with that. I have no strong opinions on the matter, having never been to Detroit.  
> As for what they study, I intentionally left that vague.

It was a normal Wednesday night. Yuuri was grateful for Phichit’s company; the younger skater had started at Wayne State that semester and knowing someone from his rink at school made dining a little easier. It wasn’t like Yuuri didn’t have  _ friends _ , but, well, it was hard to get  _ close _ to the Americans in his program, and a lot of international students didn’t stay for the full four years of an undergraduate degree.

And so, on a normal Wednesday night, he found himself in the dining hall with Phichit. “We should be roommates next year,” said Phichit, digging into his dry dining hall chicken parm. “Or next semester. I could probably get someone to cover my lease. We could get somewhere with parking!”

Yuuri nodded. “That would be a good idea,” he agreed. He liked Phichit, and they kept similar schedules.

“Besides… technically I’m not ‘allowed’ to have my hamsters in the dorm. And you have a dog, don’t you?”

Yuuri hummed in agreement. “Vicchan. He’s a toy poodle.”

“You could have your parents or sister or someone bring him over!”

Coming home to Vicchan every night… that sounded too good to be true. “That’d be great!” He picked at his salad. It was wilted, and they’d only had ranch dressing left. He envied Phichit’s ability to eat like he did.

Phichit pulled out his phone and immediately began tapping at it, looking for apartments. “We can look this weekend, if you want. What’s our criteria? Parking, cheaper split two ways than dorms and parking here, pet friendly…”

“We should probably make sure it’s in a pretty safe part of town, too,” Yuuri said.

Phichit nodded. “Right, yeah.” He tapped that in, too.

“It’d be nice if we could get walking distance to campus, so we wouldn’t need parking permits. But that’s not a requirement, I don’t think.”

“Got it.” He tapped some more on his phone while shovelling chicken parm into his mouth. It was amazing multitasking. After a few seconds he showed his phone to Yuuri.

There was a listing he’d found. Affordable rent, two-bedroom apartment, safe area, pet-friendly… and, Yuuri saw, scrolling down, that the building had parking. “That looks good. See if we can get a tour, or something.”

“We should get an American in on this. Some people are dicks about foreign students, especially non-European ones.”

“As a roommate?” Yuuri asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Phichit shook his head. “Just to ask questions, seem like they want to be a roommate.”

“Okay,” Yuuri agreed. “That could work.”

“I’ll email them now,” Phichit said. “It’s probably too late to call.” He tapped on his phone and stuffed more food into his mouth. After a minute or so, he pocketed his phone and grinned. “I’m gonna get more food.”

“Phichit, it’s competition season.”

“Relax, mom,” Phichit said, rolling his eyes. “I’m getting salad. And maybe dessert. You want anything?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I’m still working on this.” He gestured to his salad, which was bland as hell without dressing, but he’d manage.

“Whatever you say,” Phichit said before wandering off.

As soon as Phichit made to leave Yuuri pulled out one of his textbooks. It was difficult, managing university and professional figure skating, but he managed on a slightly reduced course load. 

“Honestly,” Phichit said when he came back. Yuuri marked his page and stuffed his book back in his bag.

“Yes?”

“It’s dinner time, you can relax.”

“I don’t want to fall behind,” Yuuri said.

Phichit rolled his eyes and shoved a bowl at him. “Low-cal frozen yogurt. Figured you could use a treat.”

“Thanks.”

“We should get together with our other rink mates when the season’s over,” Phichit said. “But then… I guess that’d be around midterms, huh?”

“I think so,” Yuuri said. “Depends on the professor, really. I had one last semester that gave me a midterm five weeks before finals.”

“Damn, that’s more like a three-quarters-term.”

“And she kept putting it off so I never knew when it was coming.”

“What class was that?”

Yuuri felt himself blush. “Uh, Russian.”

Phichit grinned. “ _ Russian _ ? Hmm, I wonder why Katsuki Yuuri, known lifelong fan of Victor Nikiforov, would want to learn Russian…”

Yuuri swatted at him. “Shut up.” But he didn’t deny it; how could he?

“I need a language,” Phichit said. “English doesn’t count. Maybe I’ll do Russian, too, and then we can bitch about Ciao Ciao together.”

Yuuri laughed. “I’m not convinced he doesn’t know Russian, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Try it tomorrow,” Phichit suggested. “Just say, like, hey Ciao Ciao, but in Russian.”

Yuuri snorted. “Yeah, maybe.”

“No, but  _ Yuuri _ ,” Phichit said. “Imagine being  _ roommates _ . We have practically the same schedule, and we can both cook better than this garbage – we wouldn’t need a meal plan, either, not really. And we could have movie nights! I still haven’t shown you  _ The King and the Skater _ !”

“We don’t need to be roommates to watch that.”

“Yeah, I know,” Phichit said. He finished his salad and wrapped the fork in a napkin before putting it into his backpack.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?” Yuuri asked.

“We’re gonna need  _ silverware _ ,” Phichit said, rolling his eyes. “I can’t take a full set in one day.”

“Phichit.”

“No, someone on my floor explained it to me: these dining halls and meal plans are so expensive because they have it _built in_ that you steal stuff.”

“That doesn’t sound real.”

“Whatever,” Phichit said. “I’m not  _ paying _ for silverware when I can just take it. I’ll snag a few extra plates over the next few weeks, too.”

A criminal. Yuuri had agreed to be roommates with a criminal. “ _ Phichit. _ ”

“You can buy your own plates and silverware if you have such a problem with it,” Phichit said. He finished his own ice cream and packed the spoon away. “But I’m resourceful.”

That wasn’t the word Yuuri would use. “Well… I’m not stealing anything.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Phichit, we’re here on  _ student visas _ .”

Phichit waved a hand absently. “They’re not gonna  _ arrest us _ for taking  _ utensils _ from the  _ dining hall _ . And if we get caught, we can always pretend we don’t speak English.”

“You’re awful.”

“Ah, but that’s why we’re friends.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes at his friend and decided that, instead of dignifying that with a response, he was going to eat his frozen yogurt before it melted. And then he finished his sad, wilted salad. Phichit distracted himself with his phone.

“I can’t believe I agreed to live with a criminal,” Yuuri said when he was finished eating.

Phichit grinned. “No take backs!”

They brought their trays to the automated belt, and Phichit grabbed another handful of silverware. “Go, go, go!” he whispered in Yuuri’s ear.

They hurried out to the lobby, and Yuuri  _ saw  _ the change in Phichit’s face when he saw it: a useless artificial potted plant.

“Phichit  _ no _ ,” Yuuri whispered.

“Phichit  _ yes _ ,” Phichit whispered back. Quick as he could, he ran over, grabbed the plant, and hurried out before he could be caught.

Yuuri looked around, stifling an incredulous laugh, and followed. “ _ Phichit, _ ” Yuuri said.

“Now we have a houseplant!” Phichit said with a grin, holding up his prize. The duo walked quickly back to their dorm building. 

“Society has rules, Phichit.”

Phichit grinned. “Rules are meant to be broken, aren’t they?”

**Author's Note:**

> Two things in this fic were inspired by real-life experiences: 1) the russian professor pushing back the midterm until there was a month left in the semester, 2) stealing the plastic plant. only I was Phichit in that one. i had no idea what to do with it so i just gave it to my friend's roommate.


End file.
